


What love is...

by hys_terry



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Bad Forensics, Bad mental health representation, Canon-Typical Violence, Don't Trust The Writer, Incompetent cops, M/M, Murder Mystery, Past Child Abuse, Post-Canon Fix-It, Slow Burn, dumbasses to lovers, mental health
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:00:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24480226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hys_terry/pseuds/hys_terry
Summary: (Set two months after the end of season 5, but before The Beginning)While working on a murder case, Lucius & his fellow genius and a nemesis uncover a hidden truth, which brings them closer together.
Relationships: Lucius Fox/Edward Nygma
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to an a m a z i n g beta-reader: alastonaurinko ♥

It was two months after the mainland reunification. The GCPD precinct was slowly returning to its original state, although it was an excruciatingly slow process. While Lucius considered himself to be a good samaritan, it was hard for him to do his work with civilians making a ruckus in the halls and treating the building as their own penthouse. Some were able to return to their homes. Well, after the police chased out the gangs, who had claimed the territory as their own. Some people had their homes completely destroyed, and have to stay at the GCPD until they have somewhere else to go. Wayne Enterprise is working on a construction of a living area, but it’s far from completion.

He made his office off-limits to everyone and locked himself in. Lucius didn't mean to be rude, but he was getting a slight cabin fever. Although, playing nice, calming music on the gramophone, definitely helped. That and a nice, hot cup of coffee. 

The initial feeling of unity didn’t last long and before you know it, Gothamites were at each other’s throats again. Crime doesn’t stop even after your city gets nearly nuked to the ground. For high criminality, one might add. Criminals don’t really appreciate the efforts that go into restoring Gotham. Well, at least that seems to be the case. Crime seems to be the very essence of this city. So new crimes were reported just as frequently as before the bridges blew up. 

Actually, a crime had been reported this morning. Homicide. He wasn’t personally on the crime scene, but a small team of forensic scientists and officers Tennenbaum and Franks were present instead. Lucius wasn’t that happy about it, since he believed them to be incompetent, which was later proved by the evidence they delivered to his office. Crime scene photographs, DNA samples, but no murder weapon or samples from the attacker. They had basically dumped a half of a five-thousand piece jigsaw puzzle and expected him to get the full picture by the end of the day. _Brilliant._ He was supposed to be the one without any forensic education.

According to the DNA test, the victim was a woman named Anne Anderson, caucasian, forty-five years old, accountant, a widow with a clean criminal record. Her husband John Anderson died of lung cancer last year. It was hard to tell what weapon did the killer use. It seemed as if he had stabbed the woman and moved the weapon in her flesh in various directions until he was satisfied with the wound. 

Lucius decided to visit the crime scene again to see if he can gather anything else. Find the missing weapon and even better, the killer’s DNA. Hopefully, the amateurs hadn’t destroyed the crime scene too much. 

Lucius packed his briefcase and with a deep breath exited his office. The lobby was just as chaotic as it was before he had hidden away. Past the two dozen people, he locked eyes with a visibly agitated Jim, new captain of the GCPD. Lucius pushed past the people in the lobby to get to him.

“Jim,” he addressed him, “is everything okay?” Lucius asked with a concerned tone. Now that he’s gotten closer, he could see dark circles under Jim’s eyes. 

Jim did an ambiguous gesture that could mean anything. “It’s just” he sighed and lowered his voice, “it’s Barbara. I don’t know where she is. She still thinks I want to _steal_ our daughter from her.

I haven’t heard from her since the reunification. If anything, I want to protect both of them.” he massaged his temples. “You needed something, tell me.”

During Jim's speech, Lucius forgot about the case. And just now he realized he had definitely forgotten about Jim’s daughter. Not about her existence, of course, just her not being a part of Jim’s life. So much happened and then Barbara disappeared and stayed silent. And Jim rarely spoke about his privacy. Not that they had that kind of friendship anyway.

“Right,” he explained his intent concerning the homicide. Jim nodded and gave him his blessing. He also had wanted to assign him a partner, but Lucius stubbornly refused. He wanted to have a silent moment- just him, his briefcase and the murder scene.

Lucius hopped into his 1963 Studebaker Avanti and drove off. Anderson's house was located in the Narrows district, so he got comfortable and turned on his favorite music. 

“I wouldn’t take you for a Queen fan, Foxy.” a deep, familiar voice said to him, causing Lucius to nearly crash into a traffic light. 

“Damn it, Edward!” yelled Lucius and turned off the radio. “ I could’ve had a heart attack.”

“Riddler.” corrected him the stowaway man as he climbed over the seat to get right next to Lucius. “If you don’t want people to hide in the back, you should stop keeping blankets in your car.”

“I sleep here.” Lucius confessed. Edward nodded in a fake sympathy. “What do you want?” asked Lucius and quickly checked Edward for weapons. He wasn’t carrying anything in his hands and it was hard to tell if he was concealing anything under his long green coat. 

Edward ignored him though. “Where are we headed? Narrows? Something important there?” He opened the glove box and took out a package of half-eaten cookies and started snacking on them.

“Police business.” 

"Aha." mumbled Ed and turned the radio back on. 

After that, most of the car ride was silent. Until a concern crawled its way into Lucius' mind.

“How are you doing, Ed?” Lucius asked the other man. Edward found himself to be rather dumbfounded by that. “Haven’t heard about the Riddler and Penguin for quite a while.”

“I-I…,” he started, “we are not a duo, Foxy. If something, you might call us...acquaintances. And we are busy. Oswald and I are helping our common friend disappear from the radar of the one and only, James Gordon. Oh excuse me, _Captain_ James Gordon.” 

“Barbara is staying with you?” Lucius turned his head to Edward, who cursed under his breath. 

“You didn’t hear that from me. She’d kill me. And don’t tell Jim.” he pointed a gloved finger at Lucius warningly. “But yes. She and the little one are with us. Not that she needs us, she is a capable woman, a dangerous one. She trusts two criminals more than her ex. It’s kind of sad, really.” Edward smirked smugly.

“So as I understand it, you put crime on hold?"

“You could say that, but that's not the reason. I think I reached my murder quota for this year.” he said bitterly. Yes, the Haven massacre. Lucius remembered that vividly. More than three hundred civilians dead. “But don't get comfortable. Casual murder is still very much on the table."

Lucius gripped the steering wheel tighter. “You know that was-”

“We are here.” interrupted him Edward before he could finish the sentence. Edward exited the vehicle and stretched out his long limbs. He must have been hiding in his car for quite a while. 

In a moment, Lucius will definitely continue their conversation. But now, investigation. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucius & Edward continue investigating the homicide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again with the help of amazing alastonaurinko ♥

Lucius and Edward finally arrived at their destination. Anderson’s house was located in a suburban area of the Narrows. 

Lucius took in the surroundings. Most houses seemed to be abandoned and in various states of decay, but people were definitely living in them, who at the moment were giving him and his company nasty looks. The area didn’t seem too inviting to outsiders judging by their posture. The residents seemed to be maintaining a closed community.

Men that were huddled around a truck were sizing Lucius and Edward up with their stares. Lucius assumed that the men would not hesitate to attack him and Edward if given a tiniest bit of reason. Better not try and irritate them in any way. 

Lucius turned his head to Edward to instruct him to follow him into the victim’s house, which was the one surrounded with police tape. Lucius bent under the tape and stepped inside the house. Edward did the same.

If the outside of the property looked horrible, Lucius didn’t know to describe the state of it inside. Even if the house wasn’t a literal murder scene, the interior would still be haunting. A white outline on the living room floor and a dried blood splatter indicated where the woman’s body had been, before it was moved to the GCPD building. 

“Nice decor.” Edward commented and crouched down to investigate shards of a broken vase that were scattered on the floor. “Needs more mold, though.” 

“Don’t touch anything.” Lucius scolded him and put on a pair of gloves.

“I used to have your job, you know.” Edward reminded him and turned to explore the rest of the house.

For a while all that Lucius heard was the sound of rummaging through what seemed like stacks of paper, and creaking of wooden floorboards.

“So, how is little Barbara?” Lucius broke the silence as he was checking inside the drawers of a cabinet.

“She is a baby. All she does is sleep, cry and stink. Barbara won’t let us get too close to her. Since according to Barbara, babies can sense the evil in people.” Ed took a short pause to think about it. “Which doesn’t make sense, you see. Because she doesn’t cry with Barbara.” 

Edward chuckled at the light jab he’d taken at the woman.

“I don’t think Barbara is evil. These past few months really changed her. She doesn’t strike me as the same lunatic she used to be.” Lucius said and Ed snorted. It’s hard to say if in objection, or because Lucius subtly indicated Edward is truly evil, just as Barbara said he is. Lucius ignored it. While he didn’t believe Edward was evil, he didn’t think he was a good person either. 

“Did you find anything?” he asked Edward as he pulled out a photo album out of the lowest drawer of the cabinet. Finally a clue! Lucius didn’t know if it could even be considered evidence, but he was relieved to find at least something to go by and everything about the murder seemed to point to a crime of passion. The way the killer plunged the murder weapon into her flesh. It must have been personal. Assassins don’t put extra effort into making their victims death more gruesome than it needs to be. The killer must have known the victim. Nothing excludes a family member. Or maybe Mrs Anderson had a family member that might know who would want to kill her.

“Not really. Found this, though.” Edward came back to the living room carrying a vintage yellow rattle. “Baby Babs is going to love it!” He had a wide grin on his face as he rattled the toy and then put it in his inside pocket.

Lucius wanted to say something, but he decided against it. He still let Edward know he disapproves of his “thoughtful” gift by a raised eyebrow. Edward mumbled something unintelligible and his grin disappeared, but he still kept the toy.

Lucius returned his attention to the photo album and didn’t even notice Edward leaving the room again. 

The first picture featured Anne Anderson and a man who wasn’t John Anderson, they were kissing. It must have been her ex-husband. The owner of the album must have really cared about keeping it in a pristine state, judging by stickers on the bottom of the pictures with handwritten dates. The very first picture of the album was taken twenty-seven years ago.

It was a family album, because the next photograph featured a baby in a crib, supposedly a boy, if the blue ribbon on the infant’s baby wrap was anything to go by. There were a whole bunch of other photos of the family- birthdays, playtimes, Halloweens, anything worth capturing. But suddenly five years into the album, it stopped. No more photos. Lucius flipped through the blank pages to the end. There was something written on the cardboard cover:

_I miss you, my baby. -Mommy_

“Hmm.” The cogs in Lucius’ mind were turning. It seemed as if Anne and her ex-husband had a son, but he passed away, coming to the conclusion by the message in the family album. They could have put him up for adoption, but why? The couple seemed happy in the pictures and absolutely infatuated with the baby boy. Something must have happened to the child. Which would definitely have made the couple fight, blame each other for neglecting the care, maybe. Or they might have had a horrible accident, that could have taken the child’s life, Such tragedy would definitely put a strain on their relationship and eventually make them get a divorce. Maybe the husband…

He heard footsteps coming from behind him and turned to face Edward, who must have gotten bored with exploring the house on his own. Except it wasn’t Edward. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was a metal object nearing his face. Then only darkness.

  
  


Lucius regained consciousness after what seemed like an eternity. Just after he opened his eyes, someone threw water on his face. 

“I am up.” Lucius sat up and wiped his face with his sleeve. His head was pounding. Edward stood above him. “What happened?”

“There was a man. I was about to return to the living room, but I saw him through the window. After he knocked you out he went into the kitchen and took out something from the dishwasher. It looked like some kind of mechanical tool, file for metalwork. It was covered in blood. He stole it.” 

Lucius jumped to his feet and went to the cabinet. “Did he look like..” He reached for the photo album, but it wasn’t on the cabinet anymore. Lucius searched on the floor. It wasn’t there either. “this.” he finished the sentence, even though it was for nothing.

“Oh yeah. And he also took that.” Edward whispered quietly and averted his eyes from Lucius, almost as if he was guilty about not single-handedly stopping the man. But that couldn’t be it. Ed pointed at the other man’s face. “If I were you, I’d put some ice on that.” 

Lucius touched his face. When he looked at his hand, there was blood. The impact must have busted his temple. Figures. It had been a really heavy blow.

“Copy that.” Lucius confirmed. 

With empty hands, if Lucius didn't count the stolen toy, they returned to the car. Luckily it hadn’t been vandalized while they were gone. 

Lucius contemplated letting Edward ride with him, since the first time Lucius hadn’t consented to take Edward with him and he still didn’t know what made Edward seek him out earlier that day. What were Edward’s intentions? Everytime the two men meet, Edward was either actively seeking to hurt him or someone close to him, or to use Lucius for information. And even if Edward had no ulterior motives at the moment, Lucius was no taxi for wanted criminals, but on the other side he didn’t feel like being vicious. In the end, Lucius’ soft side won over his common sense and he let Edward get in. Not that he had much of a choice, Edward was never easy to get rid of. Lucius could definitely overpower him, but he just wanted to get back into the GCPD, stitch up his temple and stick his head into a freezer.

They didn’t speak with each other on the ride back to the Upper West side.

“Where can I drop you off?” Lucius asked him when they got within the block of the police station. Unless Edward wanted to turn himself in, Lucius saw no reason why Edward would want to be in a close proximity to any other people from the GCPD. When Gotham was unified with the mainland again, Edward had became a wanted criminal once more. Even though Edward had been exonerated, he still was guilty of other crimes such as murder of two police officers and a number of civilians.

“Good try, but I am not telling you where I live.” Edward smiled at him. Lucius rolled his eyes. “Here is fine.” Ed said finally and Lucius pulled over. Edward got out and Lucius watched him stand there in the rearview mirror until he turned the corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, consider leaving even a short comment ♥ since you can kudos a fic just once, I wonder if people who kudos-ed the first chapter read even this one- let's make a roll call! :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barbara is in need of help, Edward decides to do what is the best for her and her baby daughter

The trio of ex-cons; Oswald, Edward and Barbara with her little baby girl had made a quiet nice townhouse at Chinatown their home. They decided other areas were either still too dangerous or too obvious for Jim to look for them and his daughter there. The house used to belong to a rather rich family and just like anyone else in their tax bracket, the family had fled Gotham as soon as they heard of Jeremiah’s plan to blow up the bridges in the news. 

“Honey, I’m home!” Edward called out. From somewhere in the house, Barbara told him to “shut his goddamn mouth”. It felt great to be home. 

Barbara stomped her way down the stairs to him . She was carrying sleeping Barbara Lee in a baby carrier with penguins printed all over it, a gift from “uncle Oswald”. She also had two enormous suitcases in each hand. Barbara was furious, as told by her flaring nostrils and her protruding eyes. Edward didn’t know what had made Barbara so enraged. Or was it him? Maybe he should have told her where he was going that morning. 

“What have I done? And what’s with the luggage?” Edward furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. 

“Every single gang is on our ass.” she said through grit teeth and angrily threw the suitcases at his feet. “While you were gone, the Undertaker gang attacked us. They said that more gangs will come for _ me.  _ For how I behaved when I was running the Sirens nightclub. H-How am I supposed to..They are going to..” she lost her balance and fainted. Edward quickly dashed forward and caught her before she could fall. Barbara Lee got startled by the unexpected movement and woke up crying.

Edward supported Barbara’s lower back with one hand and rested his other hand on the baby’s back. He slowly moved her to a sofa in the living room and sat Barbara down. He removed the baby girl from her baby carrier in case Barbara tumbled onto the floor. Little Barbara was still wailing. He tried to rock her a little bit, but that made her cry even louder. 

“Oswald!” Edward yelled for his friend. No response.  _ Was Oswald not in the house? _ He sat down the baby in an armchair, as he couldn’t find a better place to put it. From his inner pocket he took out the yellow rattle he found in the victim’s house and put it into the baby’s chubby hand. Barbara Lee started to calm down as she got curious about the rattling object. At least the crying baby was taken care of. 

He checked on Barbara. She was still out cold. Edward shook her shoulders and finally she woke up with a gasp. She started immediately to look frantically for her baby. Edward pointed to the armchair behind him where now the content baby was happily playing with her new toy. Barbara let out a sigh of relief and Edward handed her a glass of water. 

“Where is Oswald?” he asked her after giving her enough time to recover from her unconscious state.

“H-he has an appointment with some informant who might know how many gangs are conspiring against us. And when they might strike again. I’d say there is at least five other gangs.”

“Can we fight them off?” Edward bit his lip. Barbara shook her head and stood up from the sofa to pick up her daughter.

“Then you know what we have to do.” he looked meaningfully into her eyes, hoping she would know what he was hinting at.

“I am not asking Jim-freaking-Gordon to save me!” her voice was quivering with anger.

“Do you care more about your pride or your baby? The baby, that you made with the man in question, by the way.” Edward reminded her. She took a moment to think about the option before speaking again.

“What would he even do?” 

“His best, I believe.” he smiled encouragingly at her.

  
  


The next day Edward had woke up extra early, so he didn’t have to tell his housemates where he was going. Barbara wasn’t still one-hundred on the plan to ask her ex for help and he didn’t want to be caught in a crossfire just because she made some people angry. He grabbed his gun and left.

Edward held his breath as he stepped into the GCPD building. He immediately raised his hands above his head, which he a second later he found had been useless. No one had noticed him walking in. There weren’t a lot of cops in the lobby to begin with. He felt strangely offended. He was The Riddler after all! He fought his urge to start drama and sneaked past the few officers with their noses deep in case files and aimed straight into Gordon’s office.

Jim had his back turned on the door and was on the phone with someone.

“..I don’t know..You choose..Ok..Love you, bye.” he hung up.

“Ehm.” Edward fake-coughed and Jim finally turned to him and quickly reached for his gun. He aimed it at Edward.

“Nygma.” Jim growled at him. “What, the everloving hell, are you doing here?” Edward crossed the distance between them. Jim’s eyes didn’t even blink when he was staring at Edward with his head slightly cocked back. Edward liked this. He smiled almost flirtatiously at the GCPD captain.

“What if I told you I know where your baby mama is hiding? She might be in grave danger.” Edward poked Jim in the chest and Jim immediately caught him by the wrist. 

“Where is Barbara? Where is my daughter? Spill, or you will catch one between the eyes!”

“You see, I wanted to tell you, but your hostility makes me want to keep it to myself. I can’t believe you would threaten to shoot me!” Edward pretended to be offended and theaterically put the knuckles to his forehead.He intended to tell Jim, but he also wanted to have some fun. Edward truly enjoyed their little cat-and-mouse game. 

“Oh, I would kill you alright.” Jim scoffed. “Did you hurt Barbara? Or my daughter?” Edward’s mouth opened in disbelief. He crossed his arms over his chest. 

“You know I would not do that. I just wa-”

“You do have a history in hurting the innocent, Edward. Killing children.”

“Haven was not my fault and you know it!” He snapped. Edward didn’t like this anymore.

“Speak.” Jim ordered and stepped away from him. Edward took a deep breath and composed himself.

“When Barbara was running the Sirens, she made some enemies with her reprehensible behavior. Now that she is rather vulnerable, she has become a common target for all those with a bone to pick with your lovely Barbara. She needs you to help her. I am sure at this point you could negotiate even split custody over little Barblee.” Jim fell silent and pinched his nose bridge.

“Just don’t call my daughter Barblee. Give me the address. I will get her into a protective custody.” 

  
  


When Edward was about to leave the building, someone crashed into him. Edward fell on his rear.

“Aargh!” he growled. “Can’t you pigs watch where you’re going!” Edward ignored a hand that was stretched out towards him in an offer of assistance. He slapped it away and stood up himself. Edward fixed his glasses that had nearly fallen of his face and looked at the klutz who made him topple over. It was Lucius Fox. “Oh..Was it because I stole your money, when you were not looking?” Edward crossed his arms over his chest in defiance.

“I didn't do it on pur- Wait, what?”  _ That meant no. _

Edward noticed Lucius was carrying a folder in his hand and then pointed at it.

“Did you get a lead?” Lucius nodded and that simple movement made Edward’s heart skip a beat. He was hungry for more investigating. Not that he cared that much about the case itself, but it had been quite a while since he last had an opportunity to show off his superior intelligence. Not in front of anyone that matters, that is.

“Oh?” Edward prompted the other man to continue. Lucius sighed. It was clear, he really didn’t want Edward to meddle with the investigation more than he already has, but he told him anyway. “I spoke to a sketch artist about the man I saw with the vic in the photo album. Since quite a few years had passed since the photo was taken, she then added those past years to the sketch in this new-tech programme and we actually got a match. It is not one-hundred percent accurate, but it is the best we’ve got. Jim gave this case to me, since I’ve already started working on it and we are..kind of low on numbers right now. Actually, I am on my way to the man’s address. I think he might be a possible suspect.” 

“Mind if I tag along?” Edward asked with a hopeful and a little bit mischievous glint in his eyes. Lucius bit the inside of his cheek.

“If you don’t tell Jim I let you, then yes.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, consider leaving even a short comment ♥ since you can kudos a fic just once, I wonder if people who kudos-ed the first chapter read their way here- let's make a roll call! :D

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to comment! ♥ Criticism welcomed!  
> Love you!


End file.
